Last Day in May 2009

It's the last day of May 2009.

It's been luckily mild...

Only had to use the A/C for just one awful humid night so far this season...

June starts tomorrow...

Fingers crossed for a mild summer altogether...

Strolled over to that Broadway Mall thing in Times Square... While it felt nice to sit on a lawnchair for a few minutes to check messages on my Sidekick mobile, I'm not convinced that this is "right" for the so-called "crossroads of the world"...

Jury is still out...

Here's the Architectural reviewer from the New York Times on this Times Square Broadway closing thing... He's not crazy about it either, but he does make some suggestions that might improve things...

Big Man In The Hood

The President and Mrs O are a stones throw away at the Belasco theater as the curtain rises right about now on a Tony nominated August Wilson play.

There's no way that I want to go over there, which I'm sure is a mob and security nightmare at the moment...

Though, Mr President, if you get this blog post on your Presidential Blackberry during intermission, I want you and Michelle to feel free to drop by for tea on your way to the airport...

Would be nice to meet you...

I'll tell the doorman to let you right in.

So, see you two later?

Ooops Friday

Forgot to blog today... Ooops.

Also forgot to a Wednesday's Word this week... Ooops.

Ooops.

Is that a word?

Is that a blog post?

Thursday: History Repeating

.

Love that Shirley Bassey. And the Propellorheads, too.

Celebrity Sighting: Teller of Penn & Teller

Yesterday afternoon, he was walking north up Eighth avenue in the West
40's.

He is Teller of the comic magician team Penn & Teller.

He looked to be in a hurry.

Raymond Joseph Teller is his real name.

And no, he didn't say anything....

He spoke not a word...

... As usual.

(Message composed on my T-Mobile Sidekick LX 2009 mobile device).

Monday On The Sunny Side

Memorial Day 2009

Let there be peace on earth...

Memorial Day Sunday Stroll

It's Memorial Day weekend in NYC...

...and the Fleet is in...

Did the Clinton Community Garden earlier...

Did the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market later.

Was at the GLBT Center to meet some friends at high noon (a first). They have a Pride photo show on the top floor that was b&w and retro...

And am now home and feeling I need to shut my eyes for a bit. And the hard drive of this here 'puter could due for a snooze too after I just uploaded another gazillion photos to the Todd HellsKitchen Flickr page.

Damn, it's humid!

And lately, I've been waking up at 3 am and having a hard time dozing back til alarm time... It's a drag...

Hope you're enjoying your day wherever you may be...

Mutant Australian Wolverine Hunks

If he is a mutant, I'll take him.

Enjoyed the movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

...Though I realized I prefer my science-fiction to be of the outer space variety or fantasy super-hero variety...

This one was often gritty and dark...

But I enjoyed it...

Twas my first movie in the X-Men series... So I know nothing of how it compares stylistically to the others...

Another good reason, perhaps, to finally join Netflix for the upcoming summer vacation... In order to see the full series in sequential order...

... Add to that the entire series of: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Deep Space Nine, Dr. Who, and Star Trek: Voyager.

Oh, and the next upcoming season of the HBO vampire series of True Blood.

Turns out I prefer my horror of the vamp variety...

...Always have.

What was Network: the Entertainment Company?

What was Network: the Entertainment Company?

This somewhat hideous sign still hangs at 51st and Ninth, (Hell's Kitchen, 10019), over Go Sushi restaurant.

But no one can recall WTF it was...

Do you know?

Please post below in comments if you know...

A Funny Reefer Man Thursday

More fun submitted by MikeLaw.

Wednesday's Word: You Tuber

youtuber - pronoun

One who spends so much time browsing youtube videos that they have metaphorically taken root, in the manner of a potato or other root vegetable. A couch potato of the new millenium.

"Oh man, I haven't showered in three days. I've just been sitting at my desk with a bag of cheetos watching Youtube videos!"

"Dude, you'd better watch out you're about to become a youtuber."

Note: *Not* to be confused with an X-Tuber!

Source: Urban Dictionary

Another Bloomberg Bright Idea

Even the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will have to be re-routed for this Mayoral nonsense.

The Complete Weekend in Tweets

Lady Donothing is *not* a fan of this backward tweet/blogging, I know... But, it's too easy not to take advantage of it... I'm writing this at 2.30pm Sunday. The time references are in correlation to that time... Read what you like and leave the rest...

* I walked the length of Ninth Ave Food Fest and it looks like somebody forgot to order the Porta-Potties. Then NYPD has baracades too tight to cross sidestreets without congestion w/ baby strollers and dogs.
about 1 hour ago from hiptop

* Taking a slew of 9th Av Food Fest Street Fair pix with my lil Canon digital to upload to Flickr later and eventually blog em or sumpin.
about 1 hour ago from hiptop

* I expect sugar to be in Amy's Pnut Bttr cookie but NOT Eatery's asian chickn salad or Mercury Bar's chicken wings. Too sweet!
about 1 hour ago from hiptop

* My 1st ever visit to the new 9th Av Dunkin Donuts that was formerly 9th Ave Bistro Gay Bar and Swine on 9. It had much more character b4.
about 1 hour ago from hiptop

* Stoopid Little Pie Co couldn't be bothered to set up a 9th Ave Food Fest booth today? No prob. I don't need to get addicted to their stuff.
about 1 hour ago from hiptop

* Back at 9th Ave Food Fest street fair foraging for lunch will try Eatery's Asian Chicken Salad for $5.
about 2 hours ago from hiptop

* Bought a plastic H.R. Pufnstuf doll for $4 at a Hell's Kitchen Block Assn tag sale... "Can't do a little if u can't do enuf."
about 2 hours ago from hiptop

* Church today? Yeah... That didn't happen...
about 3 hours ago from web

* Here's my review of the brand new Sidekick LX 2009 : http://tinyurl.com/p5qm4m
about 3 hours ago from web

* Listening to Andrew Bird's "Useless Creatures" on the Bose Wave... Whilest blogging and etc
about 4 hours ago from web

* Not belonging to gym lately means no reliable scale to test regularly. Couldn't get my ivy ring on the other day. Usually a sign of gain.
about 5 hours ago from hiptop

* Interesting NYTImes piece on the pricing of e-books for Amazon Kindle, and Sony. "Steal This Book (for $9.99)" by Motoko Rich.
about 7 hours ago from hiptop

* NYTimes has article on how multi-languages are actually making the www smaller. See piece by Leslie Berlin "A Web the Speaks Your Language"
about 7 hours ago from hiptop

* Does anyone else find Flickr Uploader 3.1.4 to be the slowest thing on the planet? And it jams up a lot. XL or something? Bah!
about 8 hours ago from web

* @garethwyn Nope. It gets me out of synch for the work week. Have always been an early riser. Since I was a kid. Have a good Sunday!
about 8 hours ago from web

* Congrats to Pier and Gavin on the birth of their new baby girl...
about 8 hours ago from web

* Sunday morning... My favorite morning of the week. Might as well get an early start on enjoying it.
about 9 hours ago from web

* Digging Twitter app on Sidekick LX 2009 on 3G. Still deciding re: FaceBook app tho. Stranger's comments on posts req too much scrolling reqd
about 20 hours ago from hiptop

* Haven't been feeling much like blogging today. Hence an OY post only: hellskitchennyc.blogspot.com
about 20 hours ago from hiptop

* Watching this wk's Lost in Space off DVR. Another weak episode of costumed humanoid aliens including Lurch from Addam's Family TV show. Oy.
about 20 hours ago from hiptop

* @wondermann5 Want to hear all about the raw diet! I was thinking of trying something like that for a fixed pd of time myself as a test...
about 20 hours ago from web

* Just a humid warm sticky day... Inside more than out. Will pull out the Vornados...
about 21 hours ago from hiptop

* ...And brought home a Colombian Steak Platter ($12) for dinner later. 9th Av Food Fest continues tomorrow. More iffy weather forecast 4 sun.
1:39 PM May 16th from web

* OK, so I woofed down "calamari at Uncle Nick's. $5 for a skimpy portion this year. No profit in soft shell crabs this yr" sez Greek $$$ man.
1:37 PM May 16th from web

* Which of my friends has a greenlight for a project w/ Meryl Streep and exchanges emails w/ John Waters on another project?? I'm so happy for that person...
1:35 PM May 16th from web

* @mrnosuch I gotta get down there to Landsdowne Road sometime and try em... I know you and Conny love it...
1:33 PM May 16th from web

* 9th Ave Food Fest for starters: 10 Mercury Bar wings for $5 and a Little Pie classic sour cream apple pie slice for $3. Stay tuned...
1:03 PM May 16th from hiptop

* Sun trying to peek thru for 9th Ave Food Fest. Humidity is high, but at least it's cool.
12:40 PM May 16th from hiptop

* Whaaaa? No soft shell crabs at Nick's 9th Ave Food Fest booth this year???? Damnation!
12:38 PM May 16th from hiptop

* W 55th Street Block Assoc having a yard sale . Just got a slew of small pic frames @ $2 ea.
12:27 PM May 16th from hiptop

* Recycling most of the Valpak. Keeping 4 coupons tho...
10:36 AM May 16th from web

* One guy last nite SHOCKED that I call my parents EVERY week!! Thought that was ALOT. LOL. Actually I can't reach them 2day @ Eastern Shore
10:31 AM May 16th from web

* Had to go to Wikipedia to copy and paste the cent ¢ sign into Twitter for that last post. i never know how to access it otherwise... ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢
10:15 AM May 16th from web

* I know I owe @takara & @mrnosuch my 2¢ review of newest Sidekick LX 2009. Will have 2 blog it soon & link it from Twitter & FaceBook 4 them.
10:14 AM May 16th from web

* Hm. So I see updates from the faceBook app in SKLX2009 show up on timeline as "from hiptop". Interesting.
10:09 AM May 16th from web

* I have always loved in the NYTimes by-line that @Jenny8Lee has a numeral for an initial. I wonder if she ever wrote how that came to be.
10:07 AM May 16th from web

* @virushead I love weekends so much, too!
10:05 AM May 16th from web

* Bought a hearty low light bromeliad plant for the apt. Plant dealer is up around West 56th @ Ninth at the 9th Ave Food Fest. $12 or 2/$10...
9:59 AM May 16th from web

* Hm. Linekinskettlecorn.com is a new vendor @ Street Fair. Haven't seen the competition with the red tents yet.
9:30 AM May 16th from hiptop

* Facilities at PABT are convenient when you need them... Trust me.
9:23 AM May 16th from hiptop

* POURING!!!!!! Thanks Gods for scaffolding, eh?
9:08 AM May 16th from hiptop

* You'd think at least one wise Hell's Kitchen Flea Mkt dealer would be hawking umbrellas. But noooooooo.
9:05 AM May 16th from hiptop

* Pouring! Ack! Hell's Kitchen Flea Marketers scurry about w/ plastic sheeting....
9:04 AM May 16th from hiptop

* Raining. Ack!
8:54 AM May 16th from hiptop

* NYPD just let the last yellow cab go down 9th Ave. Food Fest loading/unloading only til tonight.
8:52 AM May 16th from hiptop

* Great article on great Angela Lansbury, 83, in Sunday's NYTimes. By Charles McGrath.
8:04 AM May 16th from hiptop

* Has anyone developed a way to make one's Twitter profile appear more like a blog? With a little dedicated search block & sidebar for content?
8:03 AM May 16th from hiptop

* Ben Brantley RAVES about the entire season on Broadway in Sunday's NYTimes. "And suddenly, when no one was expecting it, Broadway woke up"
7:55 AM May 16th from hiptop

* Am concerned about M. who is newly on unemployment & his cel is disconnected already. Another acq predicts M.'ll be homeless eventually.
7:47 AM May 16th from hiptop

* Note to self: Try nytimes.com/timesreader. See if u like the electronic experience over the paper route...
7:43 AM May 16th from hiptop

* NYTimes has a piece on Health and Disability insurance by Lesley Alderman. "Buying Health Insurance Begins With Homework."
7:41 AM May 16th from hiptop

* Water Main break (or sumpin) on W 54th btwn 8 & 9th causing curbside river down 1 side of 9th ave as vendors set up for 9th Ave Food Fest
6:46 AM May 16th from txt

* Waiting for the NYTimes to be delivered b4 I go to bfast diner... Police were towing cars off 9th ave at 6am for Food Fest later 2day.
6:21 AM May 16th from hiptop

Sidekick LX 2009: My 2¢

I'm pretty much loving the new T-Mobile Sidekick 2009 LX (SKLX2009). My last one was the Sidekick 2008 (SK2008)... So any comparisons below are to that unit. (Although, I've also owned SK1, SK2, SK3 SE since Alex first got me hooked on these babies several years ago)

Here are my random thoughts about the newest unit:

* Day One was extreeemly rocky as T-Mobile was working on their 3G network or something and I had that dreaded spinning symbol with no network connection and dropped calls all day. I was ready to ship it right back. Even my call to T-Mobile Customer Service ended in a dropped call!

BUT....

* Happily... Days Two through Five have been great, though. Fast connections to all networks.

* Built-in Facebook and Twitter apps work good (Both are free with this unit). Wish there was a shortcut to them, though.

* Seems silly that I had to pay $2.99 for an app to make the little track ball light up to indicate if a message is waiting or what-have-you. It was built-in the last unit.

* I haven't tried camera/video... All reviews seem to indicate it will be much improved in resolution and all that but I rely on my separate Canon camera and really don't need the camera on here yet.

* Haven't even tried Bluetooth yet. Will prolly buy the Aliph Jawbone Prime soon enough. Check back for a review if you're interested. (I'll put them in comments.)

* I haven't tried media and music yet... Never been my thing on a mobile that I already use all the time for so many communication tasks.

* I've never been much for Instant Messaging on my mobile, but AIM and Yahoo Messenger both work perfectly fine here.

* Battery life: Yesterday... I got 12.5 hours before it powered itself down demanding a re-charge. That was a day of heavy use of Twitter, Facebook, Email, and WWW. Also at least one 30 minute phone call. Seems comparable to the last unit I had... But still makes me wish there were a way to do an easy back up battery...

* Screen is definitely bigger. This was my first LX and the resolution seems sharp and terrific.

* GPS. Haven't played with it yet. I have the feature turned off at the moment. Big Brother-phobia perhaps?

* Came with a 1G memory card. Much bigger than the SK2008. And more than I'll, likely, ever need.

* Keyboard. Much roomier with round buttons that have a nice feel. I can tell keys are farther apart (better for big fingered males, I guess). Am using different muscles to hit the keys so am experiencing a little soreness after yesterday's test drive of heavy use.

* Speaker is louder! Good!

* Ringers seem louder! Good!

* My friend reports better voice quality when I phoned him using the unit with built in mic... And I can hear better too in the built in ear piece when using it as a phone...

* Feels sturdy. So did the last one, though.

* Nice to not have to wait for for re-cycling after each phone call for emails to load in. I guess that's part of the 3G magic.

* I got black. But I saw the purplish floor model at the T-Mobile store later and found it to be quite handsome (and not at all too feminine) as I feared when I pre-ordered this unit online... I would have gotten purple had I known. Even though site sez it would be released in the summer, I got mine in a couple days.

* Unit fits in my same hip holster cases. (Street Fair finds, all)

* Snazzy blue strips above/below keyboard and on unit shell that REALLY alert you visually when you have incoming. And an appealing soft blue glow otherwise.

* YouTube works well on this baby. Which is amazing to me. Load in and buffering seems quick. Seems that sound is automatically channeled through the headphone plug though. I've yet to figure out how to get it to route through speaker (If it will) because i don't want to fumble for ear plugs whenever I want to glance a video. There may be info on this in the CD manual which i have yet to look at it (Bad, Todd!)

* Feel free to put questions/comments/suggestions in Comments and I'll try to answer them down there (You can subscribe to the Blogger comment feed, I think. Or just check back from time to time.)...

Oy Saturday

Oy!

No Stress Friday

Noooooooooo Stress Friday!

Thursday Fun

Quimby The Mouse from This American Life on Vimeo.

Wednesday's Word: Nerdvana

Nerdvana
State of total geekdom.
I am one with my computer. Ah... Nerdvana.

Source: Urban Dictionary

Personal Note: My brand new Sidekick LX 2009 just arrived and I'm getting to know all its new features... Hence: Nerdvana!

Portraits in Emotion

Portrait by Dave Moskowitz

Last weekend, I swung by to see the latest show at Hell's Kitchen's own Fountain Gallery. "Fountain Gallery provides an environment for artists living and working with mental illness to pursue their personal visions and to challenge the stigma that surrounds mental illness".

I found the work at left to be the most striking piece in this show...

Although the whole Portraits in Emotion show is interesting and intriguing...


702 Ninth Avenue @ West 48th St.
New York, NY 10019
212.262.2756
Hours: Tues-Sat. 11am-7pm Sun. 1-5pm

Jumpin Jive Monday

Set the tone Monday...

A jumpin jive week ahead...?

Why not?

(Thanks to MikeLaw for sending!)

These Were The Voyages...

I loved the new 2009 Star Trek movie... Every minute...

But I need to ask my fellow Trekkies a plot line question...

So, consider this a *SPOILER ALERT* as well...

But how can Spock's mother die in this episode??

She plays later roles (portrayed by Jane Wyman) in the Shatner/Nimoy TV 1960's series and was in scenes in at least one of the Trek motion pictures that I can recall...

Soooo, how could she die here at this Star Date??

My fantasy is that Scotty will miraculously retrieve her molecules in the next movie or something?...

... Or something??

Did anyone else notice this plot line anomaly??

I was just searching blogs and couldn't find anyone else discussing this...

Whaddaya think?

Check Out Yesterday's Question

Please answer yesterday's hypothetical.... Thanks!

Hypothetical Friday & Saturday

If you could take an affordable test that would tell you if you
possessed genes in your DNA that were known to be present in people with
varied cancers, or Alzheimers, or Lou Gehrig's, or heart disease, etc...
Would you take the test?

I'm interested in your thoughts, and especially those comments from the
"day at a timers" who read my blog.

Thanks and Happy Friday!

(Message composed on my T-Mobile Sidekick 2008 mobile device).

Pause and Reflect Friday

It's Friday...

My own quote blog provides an interesting quote at this point in time:

“You are a product of your environment. So choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective. Analyze your life in terms of its environment. Are the things around you helping you toward success - or are they holding you back?”
~~ W. Clement Stone

Building the Ark

We've had had some rain over the last few days...

We have had more than some...

We have had SOME rain over the last few days...

It's raining now, too...

And thunderstorms are predicted to drop torrents here and there now and then throughout the day today...

Get me two of everything to put on my ark...

Gay AND straight...

Wednesday's Word: Manstruation

1. manstruation
n. To become moody, bloated, and generally vaginal. only applicable to males.

Source Urban Dictionary.

5th of May

Happy Cinco de Mayo

...to Everyone...

... Everywhere!

... Including Lou Dobbs!

Pass the quesadillas and have a good day!

Peace and love to all my Mexican friends!

Plasticity Monday

Andrew Bird makes his Radio City Music hall debut soon. Here he is on Letterman.

Rainy Sunday's Big Question

I like rainy Sundays cuz I can stay in and get things done. Guilt free over not out enjoying the day.

Am more or less over-using my mouse arm though.

... Guess I oughta give it a rest...

So...

The big question for Sunday?

Courtney? Who the hell are you??

LOL

Saturday Savings

This is my fiftieth May. Shocking.

It's May! It's May! the lusty month of May! (In fond memory of Patrick Cawley who always comes to mind whenever I hear that tune standing there in drag nodding his head as the Maypole as chorus boys danced all around him on the Royal Cruise Line!)

My doggy gets such a kick outta empty paper towel cardboard tubes. They are as long as he is... And they bounce and he goes nuts... Grrrr.

The New York Times weekend paper delivery gets here so late that I've already left for breakfast... Hm. Maybe it's a conspiracy to get more of us to switch to electronic media? I'm still not convinced that reading the NYTimes daily on the Kindle would be a pleasurable experience... Though I do like the ecology factor of saving the trees...

Grim news memo received from the Board explaining why our monthly living expenses are about to go through the roof... Something about Freddie Mac and other Insurance companies (AIG, anyone?) demanding major structural work by end of calendar year instead of the five year plan we were budgeting. Ugh!

Meanwhile, Bloomberg has already sent property taxes soaring... But refuses to tax the wealthy 1%. He's soooo gotta go.

Contractors due to start work here over the summer... Ew. Well, there's no point in washing the outer windows now, or thinking about planter window flower boxes this year... Since I'm on the first floor, it's certain to be a real noisy, dusty, grimy mess just in time for my summer vacation from work... Doesn't sound particularly serenity inducing... Does it?

That's OK... I'll find a lot of air-conditioned places to spend my summer vacation days... Can take fuller advantage of the MoMA membership, and also explore the Paley Broadcasting Museum... Which has been one of those things on my list for years now... Oh, and the gym... A few hours a day there won't kill me!

*Too much* bad news lately about friends with Pulmonary Fibrosis, Lou Gehrig's Disease, and various cancers... I guess as we age, it's more likely we will hear more news like this... Although I had an earful in my late twenties and early thirties as AIDS ravaged TOO many of my young friends...

Reminds me that I need to seriously look into Disability Insurance...

My Thai hair cutter was back from Bangkok today! I was there first thing this AM for my overdue trim. When I start wearing baseball caps, it's either to protect from the sun, block the rain, or cover a bad hair day... She gives good hair... Cheap too @ $15 bucks before tip! Wow! She told me tales of having been caught up in some protests over there.

Got my first cable bill since I called to inquire about my rate and was awarded a slashing. Monthly bill for full DTV cable, DVR, and high speed Roadrunner is now $80 a month. Down from the $158 that I was paying for MANY months...

Need to try for paperless billing again. They offer $1 off each bill... But the last time I tried to do it online, it wouldn't stick. Will try again later...

Speaking of wills... I need to do mine... Or at least set up a Living Trust... I have this Suze orman kit sitting here for years. It's prolly out of date by now.

Need to tackle a coupla more mailing addresses away from the PO Box and get my home street addy listed as permanent. I'm not moving anywhere, ever... (Unless I won the Mega-Millions last night. Wish me luck... Ha!)

I'm seriously thinking of experimenting with becoming a vegetarian. Will need to eat all the meat and eggs stored in the house first though... So, let's see if I can commit to buying *no new animal products*, as a starter?... And only order vegan dishes whenever I go out?? Well, except for breakfast tomorrow. I promised Alex I'd be back for the morning bacon and eggs... LOL.

Speaking of beefs: Today is the Kentucky Derby. I'm convinced that horse racing is rife w/ juicing and animal cruelty. I won't be watching any of this year's Triple Crown.

Let's see, in this post I've talked about saving horses, saving trees, saving lives, saving livestock, saving money, saving memories, money and the arts...

Yup, I'm definitely getting older...

Friday!

Have a great weekend, everyone!